RRC Archives

I have never been able to do this until resently now that I have a gym ten minutes away, and it is quite a interesting experience.

I think goodguy and wes hit up two great points. Another one, maybe the most important thing that danny taught me, was that when you are stopping at a jug to rest, make sure you switch hands very frequently.

As the guys were yelling at me the other day, make sure you keep your arms straight (I tend to forget). A couple suggested that I find a spot to "squat" - point my toes out and hang straight armed, switch hands out and keep the grip loose. Also, if you're anxious about the climb, as I often am, you'll overgrip and pump out. SikMonkey gave me a lecture ... er, I mean talk ... on that the other day. I definitely need to relax more.

Knee bars are the best rest I've ever found.

Except for on Reserved Seating, where you just sit down for a while.

Kneebars, heel and toe hooks, and hand jams are cool if the route provides them. But, many routes, you really have to shake out and recover on marginal holds. And this is where fitness comes in. And pacing as well. I really think pacing yourself properly on a pumpy route is key to sending.

Overall, you have to be able to relax and use the smallest amount of energy to hang on that you can. Shake with your hand over your head, and with your hand dropped. Try to use grips while shaking that you don't use for the next part of the route (like, if the next section is crimpy, try to use open hand grip while shaking). If you have a nice flat hold, try to get the meat of your hand on the edge to rest your fingers. Lots of little things like that can really add up when you are at your limit.

Wes

I love depumping. It's such a cool feeling to "get it back". I play a game where I really push to hang out on one hand for longer than I think I can so as to give the other arm a good rest. I find that when I switch back too quickly I can't achieve as good results. Also, I shake out above my heart and really focus on getting my breathing down by taking deep breaths. There's always a certain moment when I can feel my breathing calm, heart beat slow down, and muscles regain strength. If I had to guess, I would probably say that it's usually after 2-3 minutes. I think where most people go wrong is they expect to depump sooner whereas that's not the case. It can take a good long while, depending on how pumped you are.

Wes, You mentioned "Work on turn out flexabilty." Are you refering to hip flexibility in order to maximize lockoff efficiency?

I would have done a fancy quote here, but, I couldn't figure out how to do it. When I selected the text to quote and hit the Quote selected button nothing seemed to happen.

This is a good thread.

To me, turn out flexabilty is like the frog stretch - the abilty to really open your hips up. That lets you suck into the rock while resting, and hopefully, gets some weight onto you feet.

Wes

Shake out early. If you wait until your forearms are flamed it will be much harder to loose that intense a pump.

i thought hanging straight arm hurt your shoulders...wasn't there a whole thread on this?? with a link to something even?

My two cents, which I don't think anyone has touched on... When you get to the rest hold/holds make sure you find the best body position in relation to that hold and don't forget your feet. Don't just square up on the hold and expect to get everything back. If you're working a route you should have enough time on the route to figure out the optimal body positions for each rest.
Take advantage man! Take advantage.